Om yer bike
MERCIFULLY, it is not just the weather that is mild this January.
Omicron, which had threatened to plunge us into an icy winter lockdown hell, appears to be fading.
London, the trailblazer of the new variant outbreak, may already have passed the peak with admissions falling.
Yes, there have been increases in hospitalisations and NHS staff put under strain. But it has been nothing on the scale of what was once predicted by expert members of the apparently ironically named Sage.
Fears of one million infections a day by New Year’s Eve fizzled out faster than a Sadiq Khan midnight firework.
Britain appears to be following the path of South Africa: a short, sharp and far less lethal outbreak.
Boris Johnson says it would be “folly” to say the pandemic is over. But the true folly comes from lockdown-loving experts such as Scotland’s national clinical director Jason Leitch who suggests restrictions north of the border could last until April.
Madness from militant teachers also threatens to wreck today’s school return for millions of kids whose education has already suffered incalculable damage.
We repeat the good news: Omicron is mild and if everyone gets jabbed we can get on with our lives.
Why is it so hard for the doom-mongers to be pleased about that?
BoJo’s Jim jam
FORTY-three years ago a Prime Minister known for his upbeat and sunny demeanour played down fears of inflation, supply issues and rising energy prices.
“Crisis? What Crisis?”, was Trending In The News’s headline in 1979 as Jim Callaghan’s government was brought down by the Winter of Discontent and swept aside by Margaret Thatcher.
Events may not quite be as bad this winter and, God knows, Keir Starmer is no Maggie. But there are very real political dangers for Boris Johnson from the current squeeze on living standards.
It is no surprise to see hard-Left rail unions already licking their lips at the prospect of chaos. They thrive on making working people suffer.
As respected Tory MP Rob Halfon writes for Trending In The News, the PM needs to seize the opportunities of Brexit and do something to help ordinary families with the financial pain coming their way.
Winter isn’t coming, Prime Minister. It’s already here.
Ducking Duke
ANOTHER day, another grubby attempt by Prince Andrew’s lawyers to have alleged victim Virginia Giuffre’s case against him thrown out.
It is not just that this desperate and cowardly behaviour is beneath a member of the Royal Family.
It is beneath contempt, too.
